This is a really weird idea that came to me while I was reading the Katekyo Hitman Reborn manga. I was thinking, "Man, if only Ichika was half as badass as these guys." Then, I thought, "Why couldn't he be?" And thus, this story was born.

Ichika is going to be ridiculously strong. The only IS character that can beat him in an IS battle is Chifuyu herself. Even the weakest members of the Varia are supposedly superhuman, not to mention Ichika is the Cloud Guardian. The only ones who are anywhere close to his level in skill are Tatenashi, Madoka and Chifuyu. Not to mention, Ichika isn't the strongest in the Vongola. Tsuna, Xanxus, Kyoya, Mukuro, Reborn and Mammon are stronger than he is. He's about the same level as the rest of Tsuna's guardians.

This story takes place 10 years after the Arcobalenos' curse was lifted. Tsuna took over as Vongola Decimo when he was 19, 5 years after the end of Reborn, which by the way, I found very disappointing. There were so many things the author didn't address. The Earth Flames, who's the one keeping them in balance like Checkerface with the Sky Tri-Ni-Sette, the Varia's Cambio Formas, other than Xanxus's, etc. I intend to try and address all of these in this story.

Enjoy!

"…"

How long had he been here? A day? A week? A month? He had no way of telling. He had bound, gagged and blindfolded the whole time. He didn't know how much time had passed since he was kidnapped, just that he been moved from place to place. He had so far heard the announcement system at the train stations at Kyoto, Tokyo and Osaka, the churning of waves and the sound of a ship's horn. He didn't even know if he was still in Japan anymore.

For being a kidnapping victim, Ichika thought he was pretty well off. His captors made sure to keep him well fed and hydrated. If they let him take showers, he'd be golden.

He was no fool though. He would only be treated that well as long as he was still useful to them. The moment they were done with him, he was as good as dead.

"…Is the Mondo Grosso over yet? Did Chifuyu-nee win? Does she know I've been kidnapped?" If she did, she was probably worried sick and tearing up Japan looking for him. He just hoped she hadn't tossed the Title Match for him. He had been kidnapped on the day of the finals. That was the only reason he could think of as to why someone would kidnap him. But, seeing as how he was still alive, Chifuyu probably comply with whatever demands they had, which meant that most likely, she had forfeited.

"…Shit!" Chifuyu would probably knock him over his head for cursing, but he didn't care at this point. He had to get out of here, he had to go home. Chifuyu may be strong, but she's also completely useless when it came to household chores, like cleaning the house, doing the laundry and cooking.

"…! ...! ...!"

"…! …!"

Ichika's ears picked up on faint, raised voices. But, they weren't speaking in Japanese. They were speaking…Italian? He vaguely recalled some of the words they were speaking from the commentary on the Mondo Grosso.

Then, he heard a loud sound that made his ears ring. A…gunshot? He heard screaming, gunshots, explosions, just what on earth was going on!? Were his captors being attacked? Or were his captors having a falling out with each other? He heard the ones watching him speak to each other and in Italian and walk hurriedly away, and then heard a door slamming shut. So he was in a separate room?

This was good. He didn't intend to stay here any longer. He spat the gag out of his mouth and got up, and stumbled a bit, his legs numb from sitting for so long. He carefully shuffled his feet, until his shoulder touched the wall. Then, he moved along the wall until the texture of what he felt on his shoulder changed from the feel of concrete to the feel of cold metal.

"This must be the door." Ichika muttered to himself. He slowly knelt down and used his bound hands to feel along the frame and his fingers touched a hinge.

"So, I'm on the side of the door that will hide me from sight. But, on the other hand, I'll have to move slightly longer distance to get out of the room. And I don't how far the door swings back. If it swung back all the way, he would get hit and lose his balance. Weighing the pros and cons, Ichika decided by the other side of the door.

"The next person to step in is going to get a huge surprise." Ichika muttered darkly.

Xanxus was not in a good mood. Then again, he never really was. Xanxus was a tall, black-haired, red-eyed man with scars on his face and a permanent scowl. He was pissed because his damned new boss, though he would never acknowledge him as such, sent the Varia on a mission to check out a bunch of idiots who weren't aware they had trespassed into Vongola territory. The Varia was an organization of elite, superhuman assassins, not fucking errand boys! Oh, he would check them out alright. Check them out of the mortal plane, that is. He didn't give a shit if Sawada protested.

Surprisingly, the captors seemed to be somewhat prepared for their arrival. Maybe not for the best assassins in the world, but definitely for mafia. They had an anti-flame field activated throughout the warehouse, preventing any Dying Will Flames from being used. Or so it was, in theory. They also pissed themselves when the Varia simply raised their eyebrows and smashed the device with their powerful flames from their rings. The fight, or rather the massacre, only got even more boring. They had obviously invested too much in their anti-flame field and were completely unprepared in the event that it failed. Stupid scum. The Varia made short work of them.

Over the noise of the battle, Xanxus heard two of the intruders shouting to each other in Italian.

"We gotta get outta here. These guys are fucking monsters!"

"What about the hostage!? Nothing these bastards can do could possibly compare to what the boss will do to us if we don't bring back the boy!"

"Fuck! Get the brat and let's get the fuck outta here already!"

One of them ran over to an iron door that Xanxus hadn't noticed. Hostage? Boy? Shit, Sawada would bitch at him even more if he didn't at least make an effort to rescue the hostage. He didn't really care if Sawada complained, but waiting for him to finish talking his ear off was more trouble than it was worth. The kid must be important if these morons were risking their lives to bring him with them.

He raised his pistol at the head of the one who stayed behind and fired. The stupid bastard didn't even have time to turn around before his upper torso was incinerated. Sighing in boredom, Xanxus started walking to the iron door when the idiot who went in shouted in panic.

"He's not here! The brat's go-Aghhh!" The moron started screaming in pain for some reason. Xanxus looked vaguely amused as the idiot did some sort of jig as he backed towards the door. Then he saw the cause. A bound and blindfolded black-haired boy had sunk his teeth deep into the idiot's throat, causing blood to spray up into the air in a high arc.

Xanxus watched in fascination. It wasn't often that he was impressed, but this was definitely one of those times. The blindfold was black and was multi-layered, meaning the kid couldn't see at all. Not to mention, his hands were bound tightly with metal wires behind his back. He couldn't rely on sight at all, nor did he have the use of his arms. A human's nose wasn't sensitive enough to track someone by smell. Which meant...he relied solely on his hearing and instinct to seek out the scum's throat. Not bad at all. Xanxus could count the number of people who would have been able to do the same thing with just his ten fingers. The kid was definitely assassin-material. As he contemplated recruiting the kid into the Varia, the rest of his team showed up, having already finished off their prey.

"VOOOOOOIIIII! Boss, what the hell are you doing standing around in a daze!" Squalo, a silver-haired man with a sword attached to his hand, the Varia Rain guardian, Sword Emperor as well as Xanxus's right-hand man, yelled in his usual eardrum-busting volume.

"Shut up, scum. Look." Xanxus nodded in the direction of the moron, who was flailing wildly trying to get the boy off. Dumbass, he was only making his wound worse. Squalo whistled in appreciation.

"That's one tenacious brat. His feet aren't even touching the ground and he's still hanging on." Xanxus silently agreed and made up his mind. This kid was joining the Varia.

Xanxus scowled when the moron finally regained some measure of composure and pulled out a knife and stabbed the boy's throat from behind. That brat was too precious to die! He raised his pistol. Losing a limb or two would teach him a lesson. Then, he paused. The boy was still going! If anything, he was getting even more vicious. It must be true that even the smallest animal would fight back when cornered. The moron finally fell to the ground, his strength rapidly leaving his body, until finally, he stopped moving. The boy seemed to sense that his captor was dead as he released his throat, his teeth completely stained blood-red and he slumped to the ground, breathing erratically and blood spurting from the stab wound on the back of his neck.

"Lussuria! Heal the boy, we're taking him with us!" Xanxus barked an order to his Sun guardian, a flamboyant man with a strange mix of brown, green and red hair and wearing sunglasses.

"Yes, boss~!" Lussuria held up his right hand, the ring on his middle finger glowing, and a peacock wreathed in yellow flames appeared. The peacock extended its tail feathers and bathed the boy in Sun Flames. The boy's wounds immediately started closing and his breathing became more regulated, a testament to the strength of the 'Activation' property of Lussuria's Sun Flames.

"Boss, what do you intend to do with the boy?" Levi A Than, a tall, spiky black-haired man with a moustache and a goatee and the Varia Lightning guardian, asked.

"Isn't that obvious? He's joining us. He has too much raw potential to let it go to waste."

"Yes, boss!" Levi didn't really understand, the brat did kill his captor with only the use of his hearing, teeth and sheer tenacity, but that didn't mean he was Varia material. They didn't even know if he had Dying Will Flames. But, his boss's orders were absolute and he would follow them to the letter.

"Oh, what a cute boy! I just want to gobble him up!" Lussuria gushed as he removed the blindfold from the boy's face and the wires from his arms. Mammon, a small boy wearing a hood over his head, the former Mist Arcobaleno, the Varia Mist guardian and the physically youngest of the team, subtly back away from his possibly pedophilic teammate and momentarily pitied the kid.

"Shishishi. Lussuria, at least get the kid back to headquarters first before you start molesting him." Belphegor, a man with spiky blonde hair that covered up his eyes, the Varia Storm guardian, snickered.

Their mission complete, the Varia left the warehouse, the boy on Lussuria's back. Xanxus pointed his gun over his shoulder and fired. The warehouse was engulfed in a ball of raging fire and ceased to exist.

Needless to say, 'Trident' Shamal was shocked. He never thought that Xanxus would ever pay him a visit in the infirmary wing, with a wounded kid in tow no less. Lussuria placed him on the bed. The boy looked peaceful, his breathing completely stable and nary a scratch on him. If the kid's mouth wasn't stained with blood, he would have thought he was sleeping.

"Pervert, give the kid a checkup." Xanxus ordered him.

"Seriously? You barge into my infirmary without any warning and now you want me to examine a boy? Sorry, I only take female pati-" Shamal didn't get a chance to finish when Xanxus pointed his pistol at his face.

"Do it or I'll turn you to ash." Shamal held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. There was no way he could beat Xanxus. He only had to examine the kid anyway, it wasn't like he had to treat him or anything. Sighing, Shamal picked his stethoscope and examined the boy's heartbeat and breathing. Perfectly fine, no irregularities. Next, he examined the boy for any external wounds. Once again, nothing. Finally, he gently opened the boy's eyes and flashed a light in them. The pupils immediately dilated and constricted. As far as he could tell with a preliminary examination, the kid was perfectly healthy. But…

"Where did the blood in his mouth come from? I didn't any wounds that could explain it."

"He tore someone's throat out with his teeth." Xanxus replied matter-of-factly. Shamal started.

"A brat his age killed someone? With his teeth, no less?" Shamal looked surprised. The brat did not look like he belonged to any mafia Famiglia he knew.

"Which Famiglia is he from?"

"None. As far as I know, the kid's a civilian." This time, Shamal jumped to his feet.

"YOU BROUGHT A CIVILIAN TO VONGOLA HEADQUARTERS!?" Did Xanxus take leave of his senses!? The Vindice would haul his ass to Vendicare if they found out he broke the Omerta.

"I'm recruiting him into the Varia."

"…What?" Did he hear that right? Xanxus personally scouting someone out?

"Mammon! Get one of the shithead scientists here! I want to know whether the kid has any Flames." Mammon nodded and floated away in the direction of the R&D building.

Shamal pinched in temples to suppress his migraine. Looking back towards the kid, he decided to hook him up to a Cardiac Monitor to observe any change in his vitals. The monitor emitted beeping noises at regular intervals.

"So, what's this kid's story anyway?"

"The morons we were sent after kidnapped him. That's all I know."

"Exactly how do you intend to convince him to join the Varia? He probably has a family, a civilian family, that's worried about him. Not to mention that civilian kids tend to be adverse to the idea of killing."

Xanxus shrugged.

"I'll cross that bridge when I come to it."

*KNOCK* *KNOCK*

Someone knocked on the door and opened it. Xanxus scowled. Standing in the doorway was his new boss, Vongola Decimo, Sawada Tsunayoshi, who, while Xanxus somewhat respected, he still did not like, mostly because he reminded him too much of Vongola Nono, Timoteo Vongola, his adoptive father.

Sawada Tsunayoshi was a brown-haired, brown-eyed Japanese male of slightly above average height. He was wearing a black suit that had become his and his guardians' everyday attire where since their official inauguration. On his hands were red metal gauntlets, the X-Gloves Ver. VG, modified to permanently stay in that form even when Tsuna wasn't in Dying Will Mode or Hyper Dying Will Mode.

"What are you doing here, boss?" Xanxus asked, adding sarcasm to the word boss. Unfazed, Tsuna smiled.

"I was quite surprised when I heard you brought a child back from your mission, so I came to see him for myself. Is that him?" Tsuna's warm eyes turned to the boy on the bed. Tsuna's eyes widened and his smile grew wider.

"I sense a strong flame coming from him, though it doesn't appear that he's tapped into it yet. You have a good eye for talent, Xanxus." Xanxus snorted.

"Boss, I've brought them." Mammon floated into the room, a green-haired child wearing glasses, a bespectacled red-haired man and a blonde man with a lollipop in his mouth trailing behind him. They were the three of the five top scientists in the mafia. Former Lightning Arcobaleno, current head of Vongola's R&D Department, the modern day Da Vinci, Verde. Current Vongola strategist, technological advisor and inventor, Irie Shouichi. Engineer, inventor and weapon designer, Spanner. Along with Emilio Innocenti and Dietrich Koenig, they were the five greatest minds in the world. Though, 5 years ago, a mind that could rival theirs appeared. Shinonono Tabane, the inventor of Infinite Stratos, IS for short, an incredibly powerful weapon able to aid humans in performing impossible feats. Impossible for those outside of the mafia anyway.

Thinking about the IS made Xanxus snort. Emboldened by the acquisition of 23 of the 467 IS cores invented, the Italian government attempted to eradicate the mafia by sending 15 IS pilots. Dumb move. Granted, some of the small fry Famiglias were destroyed, but the government's efforts had otherwise ended in failure. The IS pilots were all killed and their heads were sent back to the Italian government. The 15 IS cores were taken by Vongola Alliance, with the Vongola themselves holding 10 of them. The government never dared to try anything after that and did their best to suck up to them. The silly attempt to destroy the mafia actually did them some good. With the 10 IS cores in their possession, the Vongola were able to start manufacturing IS weaponry and parts, selling them on the black market to the highest bidder. This was currently one of their biggest sources of money, as every country, organization and associated enterprises were desperate for them.

Xanxus didn't understand the world's fascination with the IS. They took too long to make, they were in heavily limited supply, they cost a small fortune to manufacture and they were stupidly unwieldy. Seriously, who the hell was the idiot who came up with the bright idea of implementing the concept of Shield Energy? What was the point of a weapon of mass destruction if it deactivated after taking a few hits? They weren't really that powerful in the first place. He had personally destroyed two IS units with his Cambio Forma. Heh, he got a laugh out of the looks on the pilots' faces when his Flame of Wrath blasted through their so-called 'Absolute Defense' like it wasn't even there.

"I said bring one of them, not all of them." Xanxus scowled at Mammon, who shrugged.

"When I asked Irie to come, the other two followed out of curiosity."

"Hmph, whatever. One of you, check the kid's Flame type." Xanxus barked at them. Verde and Spanner were unfazed. Shouichi flinched, though it was mostly because of the volume of Xanxus's voice than any fear of him. Shouichi took a device out of his pocket. It didn't look very elaborate, it just appeared to be a monitor connected to electrodes. Shouichi connected the electrodes to the boy's chest and switched the monitor on. He stared at the screen for a moment. Then his eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and his jaw dropped.

"T-This is incredible!"

"What is it, Shouichi-kun?" Tsuna asked.

"T-This boy! He has three Flames!"

"What's so special about that? That shitty bomber trash has five." Xanxus sneered.

"It's not the number, it's their strength! His Rain and Storm Flames are already averaging B-rank, while his Cloud Flame is starting to go beyond A-rank! Its strength is almost comparable to Hibari-san's from 5 years ago!"

"What's comparable to Hibari from 5 years ago?" A spiky silver-haired man with green eyes asked. Behind him was a tall black-haired man with light brown eyes.

"Oh, Hayato. Do you need something?" Tsuna asked his Storm Guardian, Gokudera Hayato.

"Decimo, just wanted to remind you that you have a meeting with Kozato tomorrow. Who's the kid, and what's this about being comparable to Hibari?"

"Xanxus brought him back from his mission and apparently, the strength of the child's Cloud Flame can rival Kyoya's five years ago."

Yamamoto Takeshi, Tsuna's Rain guardian, whistled.

"So, I take it Xanxus is recruiting him?"

"Damn straight, I'm not letting the kid's potential to go untapped."

*BEEP**BEEP**BEEP**BEEP**BEEP*

The beeping from the Cardiac Monitor suddenly sped up rapidly. The boy's breathing grew heavy and erratic.

"What's going on!?" Xanxus rose to his feet.

"His vitals are dropping! Dammit, there were internal wounds after all!?"

"That's not possible! Lussuria already used Sun Flames on him! All of his wounds should have already been healed!"

Shamal lifted the boy, searching for a possible explanation. He found it. The scar left behind from the stab wound was turning black.

"Shit, this is…poison!?"

"What!? When did that…!?"

"Tch. Those guys you were sent after were more cunning than you thought. A slow-acting poison on the blade that stabbed the kid that went through his blood stream faster than normal due to the 'Activation' property of the Sun Flame. A trap made for mafia."

"What the hell are you waiting for, pervert!? Give him the antidote!" Hayato shouted at his former mentor.

"How am I supposed to give him an antidote when I don't even know what poison was used!?"

"Then hurry up and find out!"

"I won't make it in time! The poison has already been circulated throughout his body through his blood stream!"

"…Where am I?" Ichika's eyes opened, but he couldn't see anything. Just pitch black darkness surrounding him. He tried to move, but he found that he didn't have any strength to even twitch.

"Am I…falling?" He experienced a peculiar sensation, as though he was free falling. But there was no air whooshing past him, all he felt was the coldness of the darkness, slowly and steadily freezing him as he fell.

And so he fell, deeper and deeper into the darkness, not knowing when he would reach the bottom.

"Shit, I'll give him a universal antidote!" Shamal filled a syringe with a colorless liquid. He injected it into one of the boy's visible veins.

"What's that?"

"It's an antidote that can cure most poisons, but if it's one of the rarer poisons in his body, it won't work. I don't have enough time to identify the poison, so if this doesn't work, the kid's dead."

*SPLASH*

Ichika's body seemed to hit a body of water. But, instead of sinking, Ichika began to float on the surface, moving along with the flow of the current.

"…Where am I now?" He still couldn't see anything. He didn't hear anything but his own voice, he couldn't pick up on any smells. The only thing he could feel was the cold wetness of the water beneath him.

"Shit, it's not working!" The boy's vitals were still dropping, and patches of his skin were beginning to blacken.

"What to do...what to do..." Shamal frantically thought to himself. Then, an idea hit him. He had no idea if it would work, but he wouldn't know until he tried. He took a needle and extracted a sample of the boy's blood.

"Yamamoto, use your Rain Flame on the kid. If you slow down his bodily functions, it may slow down the poison!" Takeshi nodded and held his hand out. From his palm, a continuous blast of blue flames shot out and coated the boy.

"Alright, that should buy some time!" Shamal poured the blood sample into several test tubes and added various reagents to each.

"Come on...come on...come on..."

"...My name is...I...I...Ichi...ka..." Ichika was slowly starting to find it harder and harder to remember anything. He could no longer recall the names of his friends. The red-haired boy, the twin-tailed brunette girl, the kendo girl with a ponytail, her eccentric older sister. He was even beginning to forget details like his name, age and birthday. And so, he kept repeating his name to himself over and over, so that he wouldn't forget. But that only delayed the inevitable. Even after repeating his name over a dozen times like a mantra, it was beginning to slip away.

Even so, there was just one memory, a memory of the most important person to him that he held onto with incredible tenacity, even after beginning to forget everything else.

"...Chifuyu-nee..."

Holding on to that precious memory, Ichika's body continued to sail down the body of water he had fallen into.

"Shamal, hurry up! The kid won't last much longer!" Takeshi had done well, the drop in the boy's vitals. But, even the Rain Flame couldn't completely halt time. The boy's vitals had fallen so low that in just a few moments, the boy would surely die.

"Done! Tch, Aztec Carnation...that's one nasty poison. And it's already gone through most of his body...It's incredible the kid's still alive." Shamal searched his cabinets and pulled out a small vial that had been tucked away at the back. Filling a syringe with the liquid inside, he injected it into the boy.

"Don't let it be too late..."

"...My...name...is..." And so, even his own name was lost to the boy. Even so, he continued to cling on to the memory of the beautiful black-haired woman, whose name now escaped him. Having lost all but one memory, the boy grew colder and colder.

Then suddenly, he caught a dim glow out of the corner of his eye. He had been in pitch black darkness for so long, it took him a while to remember what light was.

He turned his head as much as he could. A part of his face was submerged in the ice cold water as he turned. The source of the glow was...a silver-haired, grey-eyed woman, dressed in black.

"...Who...?"

...I am Death...

The woman did not speak at all, yet the boy clearly heard her voice. Was she speaking directly into his mind?

"...Why...?"

...You are dying...Just a few more moments...and you'll be dead...There is no stopping it...

...Odd. The boy had lost his most of his personal memories, emotions and personality, but he still retained common sense and general knowledge. And so he knew that he should have been afraid. That he should be begging for his life to be saved. But, he didn't feel any desperation of any sort. Simply...resignation.

"...I see..."

...Will you not protest...?

Death tilted her head to the side ever so slightly, evidently curious about his lack of resistance.

"...Death comes for all. There is no point in protesting against the inevitable..."

...I see...

Death was slightly impressed. She had never met a human who hadn't begged for their lives at some point or another. Even the bravest, like Achilles and Heracles had begged on their knees before her. But a boy, not even into puberty yet, showed no fear before her. Was it because his swin down the Styx had destroyed his soul? Nonetheless, she felt an obligation to award him for his bravery.

Hm...the boy only had a few scant seconds left before he expired. What to do...What to do...She was Death, after all. If she so willed it, she could return the boy to the mortal plane.

...Decisions...Decisions...

"..."

They had failed. The Cardiac Monitor did not let out consecutive beeping noises, only a long drawn out beep, meaning that the boy's heart had stopped. He was gone.

"What the hell happened, pervert!? I thought you gave him the antidote!"

"I did, and the poison was most certainly neutralized. But, Aztec Carnation isn't a regular poison. . Unlike regular poisons that target neurons, it actually targets all cells and turns them cancerous. By the time the antidote took effect, most of his vital organs had already failed..." It was a major failure on his part. It had been a very long time since a patient had died on his watch. Not since he was a rookie in fact.

*BAM*

Xanxus smashed the wall with his fist, coated in the Flame of Wrath, causing the wall and everything behind it to disintegrate. Tsuna placed a placating hand on his shoulder and led him outside, followed by his two guardians, Mammon and the three scientists, all with somber looks on their faces.

"...Sorry, kid." Shamal apologized to the boy's body and covered it with a blanket. He needed a smoke.

"..." The boy frowned. The boy's soul fully passed from the mortal plane.

"...Odd..."

...Hm...?

Death looked up from her contemplation when she heard the boy speak.

"...Even though I don't have any reason to...My instinct is telling me to live. To survive. To fight back..."

...That is your mortal instinct. It is not just humans, all living things want to live longer, to escape from me...

"...What's the point? In the end, we are mortal. How is it possible to go against an omnipotent force like Death...?"

...It is not. Even so, mortals simply want to live. Boy, do you wish to live...?

The boy thought about it. He didn't really know. Death had already stripped him of his identity. Even if he went back, what was waiting for him? It was the same as being a newborn child.

Then, the fading image of a beautiful black-haired woman passed through his mind. And he knew, even if he was already forgetting, that there was still someone waiting for him. He did not fear Death, but he wanted to live, not for himself, but for that woman.

Flickers of flames began to appear around the boy's body, growing and brightening with the strengthening of his resolve.

"...I want to live..."

...I see. Not for yourself, but for another, huh? You truly are unlike any human I have ever met...

Three distinct colored flames coated the boy, revitalizing him and causing the cold water around him to slowly evaporate. And at his center, a new flame was slowly flickering into life.

...Hoooh. This is... Interesting, in that case, in recognition of your bravery, allow me to present you with a small gift...

Death pressed a slender finger to the flame that was white as a blank canvas, waiting for the boy's resolve to give it color. Upon contact, the white flame turned black with flecks of gold within.

...May this restore balance to the world...

Death muttered those words and vanished. At that instant, the now four flames burst forth, igniting and illuminating the boy's surroundings. And then, the boy's vision faded out to white.

Tsuna stood outside the room where the boy's cooling body lay. Hayato and Takeshi stood at his sides, somber looks on their faces. Shouici, Spanner and Shamel had similar expressions while Verde's expression remained neutral. Mammon's expression was not visible under his hood. Xanxus, on the other hand, was still pissed as hell and destroying everything he could get his hands on. Tsuna shrugged, it was better for him to get it out of his system. He could just deduct the costs for repairs from Xanxus's salary.

Tsuna briefly mourned the death of an innocent life and promised himself to find the boy's family to return the body to them. Then, his Hyper Intuition started reacting. It was telling him that the boy wasn't dead yet! Tsuna's head snapped towards the window, and caught sight of Dying Will Flames slowly igniting around the boy's covered body.

"This sensation...Don't tell me...!? Everyone, hit the deck!"

The warning came just in time as everyone followed him without question. Flames of four colours, purple, blue, red and black burst forth from the room, blowing the door off its hinges and shattering the windows, showering everyone with glass fragments. The walls had been completely disintegrated and the room was...gone. What was once a room was now a gigantic hole in the side of the mansion. The boy's body had fallen to the floor below. And incredibly, his chest was heaving. He was breathing! He was alive!

"Tsuna!" A boy's voice called to him further down the hallway. Tsuna turned to see his mentor, the former Sun Arcobaleno and a member of the Vongola, Reborn. Reborn was a black-haired, black-eyed prepubescent boy dressed in a black suit and fedora. Perhaps the most striking thing about Reborn's appearance was his curled sideburns.

"What happened?"

"I'm not sure. The child Xanxus brought back from his mission dies from poisoning, but then Dying Will Flames started spewing from his body..." He knew this phenomenon. He had experienced it himself five years ago after all.

"Was that...Ultimate Dying Will Mode!?" Tsuna was in shock. That was natural. Only 2 other people had ever achieved Ultimate Dying Will Mode. Himself and Bermuda von Veckenschtein, the leader of the Vindice and the former Strongest Arcobaleno. With Ultimate Dying Will Mode, new Dying Will Flames were also born. Bermuda's Flame of the Night, and his own Flame of Dawn. Did that mean the boy had also...?

"Shamal, check the child's health. Shouichi-kun, check his Flames again. If I'm right, then..."

Shamal and Shouichi jumped down the hole. Shamal checked the boy's body, but found no trace of external wounds, not even the scar that had been left behind after the stab wound healed. There were irregularities in his breathing or his heartbeat and his eyes responded normally to a light being flashed.

"This is incredible...I'll need to do a more diagnosis to be sure, but it appears that any wounds that the boy had are completely healed."

Shouichi attached the electrodes to the boy's chest and switched the monitor on again. His eyes widened even more than they had the first time.

"This is...!?"

"What do you see, Shouichi?" Verde called down, curious about the effects of the Ultimate Dying Will.

"His three Flames from before have grown stronger. His Storm and Rain Flames are now at A-rank while his Cloud Flames are currently only a bit below the current Hibari-san. And also...a new Flame is registering on the monitor. But...it doesn't appear to be a known Flame. In fact, the Flame is completely different from any other Flame I've ever seen."

"How so?"

"It'll be easier to explain if you come down to look at the monitor." Raising an eyebrow, Verde jumped down, followed by Tsuna and the rest, who were also curious about the nature of this new flame. They gathered around the monitor. On the screen were four waveforms on a vertical and horizontal axis.

"As you can see, the waveforms for normal Flames spike in the direction of the positive vertical axis. This holds true for all Flames, including the Vindice's Flame of the Night, Boss's Flame of Oath and Flame of Dawn, and Xanxus's Flame of Wrath. However, this new Flame is the exact opposite. It spikes in the direction of the negative vertical axis. However, I'm not quite what the significance of this is."

"Then, shall I explain it for you?" A new voice joined the conversation. A white-haired man with glasses and dressed in a green kimono. Tsuna and the others, save Shamal who had only heard about him, knew this man. Old man Kawahira. On the surface, he was a simple shop owner, but his true identity was that of an original Earthling, Checker Face, the Tri-Ni-Sette administrator, as well as the ones who had cursed all the previous generations of Arcobaleno.

Reborn, Mammon and Verde scowled at the sight of him. Even though he had removed their curses five years ago after Talbot had found another way to keep the Tri-Ni-Sette in balance, he did condemn them to a cursed life, unable to age until he had no more use for them.

"Kawahira...No, Checker Face, is there a reason you're here?" Tsuna asked politely.

"I sensed the birth of a new Dying Will Flame unlike any other, so I came to see it for myself. May I see that?" Checker Face asked Shouichi who passed the monitor to him. Checker Face looked at the screen and his eyes narrowed.

"I see...So that's how it is." Checker Face muttered.

"Do you know something?"

Checker Face passed the monitor back to Shouichi.

"It's faster to show you. You have the data for all of the other 16 Dying Will Flames?" Shouichi nodded.

"Combine them into a single waveform." Shouichi did as he said. A new waveform, with many more spikes, was created.

"Now compare it to the new Flame. Notice any similarities?" Shouichi considered the two waveforms for a moment and came to a realization.

"They spike in the same positions along the horizontal axis, just in opposite vertical directions!"

"Exactly, that Flame is the exact opposite of the 16 Dying Will Flames. The 16 Dying Will Flames, including Sawada Tsunayoshi's Flame of Dawn and Bermuda's Flame of the Night, are manifestations of the several aspects of life itself. Whether it's vengeance like Bermuda, or hope like Sawada Tsunayoshi, they are parts of human life. This Flame however is the opposite. It cannot be called a Dying Will Flame. Rather, it's a Flame of Death itself."

"Then, this new Flame is as strong as the Seven Flames of the Sky, the Seven Flames of the Earth, the Flame of the Night and my Flame of Dawn put together?"

"That is correct. As for how this Flame was created...has the boy died?"

"Yes, he was legally dead for 3 minutes."

"I see. Most likely, his soul had already plunged into the afterlife when he managed to activate the Ultimate Dying Will. Thus, in the process of the creation of a new Flame, the essence of Death itself was absorbed into the flame, creating the Flame of Death. Perhaps it's the will of the universe itself..." Checker Face brought his hand to his chin.

"I'll be taking my leave now. I'll come back when the boy awakens. I have a little theory I'd like to confirm." Checker Face vanished from sight in an instant, leaving Tsuna and the others to deal with the aftermath.

"Well, first things first, let's move the kid to another room and keep under observation."

It had been a full week, and the child had not yet awakened. Though relieved that he had survived, Xanxus was getting a bit impatient. He was blowing off steam in the shooting range when Shamal called.

"The kid finally woke up, just thought you might want to know." Xanxus tossed his phone aside and hurried down to the infirmary. The kid was sitting up in his bed, looking around with a blank look in his eyes.

"Finally awake, kid?" The kid turned in the direction of his voice, staring at him blankly.

"Can you tell me your name?"

The boy opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Xanxus blinked. The boy blinked as well, in confusion. The boy tried again, obviously straining to make a sound, but nothing came out. And Xanxus realized.

The boy was mute.

And the first part of the prologue is done! I was initially going to extend all the way until the point at which Ichika or rather Salvatore would arrive at IS Academy, but I found that extending past this point would make this chapter seem a bit awkward. Therefore, the prologue will be split into two parts, this and the next chapter that will probably cover up until his arrival at IS Academy.

I made Salvatore mute, mostly just for the heck of it. It adds to the mysteriousness that IS characters perceive, which is what I'm aiming for.

His healing was not the work of Death. Rather, it was the work of his Dying Will Flames. How, you will see next chapter, or you can amuse yourselves by guessing while also explaining why his vocal cords weren't healed.

My next update will be Dragon Emperor of the Heavenly Storm, followed by Dragonberry Chronicles, after which I will return to Black Joker and then this story. This will most likely be my update routine unless I get writer's block.

No one seems very interested in voting for who adopts Prince of Genocide or Infinite Dragon Emperor, so I decided that all authors who offered to adopt can adopt. I just have two conditions. First, rename the story to something else so that readers don't get confused. Second, do a good job.

That's all. Please read and review.